Imperial Tobacco Canada, the largest tobacco company in the country, has run its business in an increasingly complex and challenging marketplace since 1908. Today it faces government expropriation of its branding, aggressive competition from a contraband tobacco industry that comprises 15 per cent of the market in Québec, more than 20 per cent nationally, and a soon-to-be-legalized marijuana market.

Mr. Araya will discuss these challenges, and particularly the concern that an absence of legal tobacco branding is likely to result in consumers migrating to contraband products. He will also discuss the company's enthusiasm for less-risky tobacco and nicotine products, and the inconsistencies between proposed regulatory approaches for tobacco and marijuana.